


notches in the doorframe

by valkyriered



Series: hearts and bones [6]
Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety Attacks, Family, Family Dynamics, Found Family, Gen, School, being gentle with each other, does it count as found family if they're distant cousins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyriered/pseuds/valkyriered
Summary: Hatori attends Rin's career counseling meeting and does his best.Part of my hearts & bones verse.
Relationships: Sohma Hatori & Sohma Rin
Series: hearts and bones [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809343
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	notches in the doorframe

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place the autumn before Rin's fall. She's been living with Hatori for two years (I think, I need to check my timeline.)

  
For the record, Rin wanted to skip this.

She’d said as much to Hatori. In fact, she’d had every intention of concealing it, until her teacher called home and felt the need to notify him that Rin’s career counseling appointment had been set. 

Which means that Rin is now standing at the gates of her school, keeping an eye out for Hatori’s shiny black car. She knows what people outside of the family think when they see her and Hatori— siblings, perhaps. Or lovers. Certainly not a caretaker and their charge. They’re barely ten years apart, although Hatori’s demeanor often has people placing him as older than he is.

Rin prefers to keep her school and her family firmly apart. Kisa is young enough that they never see each other at school, and the Main House is far enough that she doesn’t need to worry about the worlds colliding. When Hatori asks her about school she always gives him a firm ‘It’s fine,’ which usually makes it clear that she’s not interested in talking about it.

It’s not that she gets bullied, or that she’s frustrated by her coursework. She doesn’t get along with the other girls, but she’s pretty and cold so they mostly leave her alone, although she knows they gossip about her from how they look at her while they whisper. Haru once picked her up from school, and that was enough to entertain her class for the entire next day. She gets a few snide comments about her hair or her weight sometimes, but she doesn’t even respond. She knows they’re trying to provoke a reaction. Fighting with them would be useless. 

So instead, they leave her alone.

School just feels exhausting.

It was much easier when she was young. When things with her parents changed, she’d worked hard. She wanted to prove that she was worth something. 

And when she moved in with Kagura, her grades had dropped completely. Through some miracle she didn’t need to do any makeup work, although she thinks that perhaps the family had come up with some excuse on her behalf. 

Hatori does his best with her. She knows that. He tries to go over classwork with her sometimes, but they usually both end up frustrated. Hatori is not a patient teacher, and Rin doesn’t have the energy to try the way he wants her to. 

“If Shigure and Ayame can graduate, you can too.” He says, constantly.

“If they could graduate, your school must have had low standards.” She always retorts. Hatori hates that. He graduated top in his class, something Shigure loves to remind Rin of whenever she’s skipping school. 

She’s doing better though, lately. Hatori’s house is quiet and he gives her room to study. It’s easier to focus without the sounds of Kagura’s family moving around her. Her teacher had even told her that her grades had picked up lately.

Still, she can’t help the feeling of dread in her stomach when his car pulls up.

“Tori-nii.” She says quietly, dipping her head in acknowledgement of him as he gets out of his car.

“Are your classes over after this, then?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll drive you home afterwards.” He says. 

“Okay.” 

Hatori is usually perfectly content to be silent with her, and she’s grateful for that as she walks him towards the school building. She doesn’t want to give her classmates even more to speculate about. She can feel the eyes on them as she leads him to the front doors, and she doesn’t even spare a glance up at the windows of the school. 

If she’s walking faster than usual, Hatori doesn’t say anything about it. He just keeps pace beside her, not noting that she didn’t pause to allow him to take off his jacket. In fact, he hadn’t even commented on her lack of one. She steals a glance over at him. He looks as business-like as ever. His face is calm and blank. 

His eyes slide over to meet hers, and he holds her gaze, silently asking what she wants.

She looks away. 

It could be worse. Shigure periodically threatens to pick her up from school so he can flirt with her classmates. She can’t think of anything more embarrassing, and he knows it. Hatori, at least, understands discretion. 

Rin stops suddenly beside her classroom door. It’s shut, but her classmates are still hanging around in the hall, and she knows that they’re looking at her— and Hatori— with interest. Hatori draws gazes wherever he goes. He stands out, and between his height and his pale eyes he gets as many looks as the more exotically-colored Jyuunishi. Rin slides the door open, stepping back to allow Hatori through. 

“In here, Tor— Hatori.” She says quietly, biting back the nickname. She can feel him looking at her, but she doesn’t raise her head to meet his gaze. He lifts his hand for a moment, as if to touch her, but then he drops it back to his side and steps through the proffered door. She follows him in, and then firmly shuts the door behind her.

“Dr. Sohma.” She hears her teacher greet him. 

Rin half-listens to them exchange polite conversation over her shoulder, her eyes locked on where her hands rest on the door. She finds herself suddenly transported to her elementary school classroom not far from this room. Her mother had been there, playing nice with her teacher. It was before everything had gone to shit, and they’d all laughed and talked and Rin’s teacher had said she was a delight. 

Her hands are shaking.

“Isuzu.” Hatori says over his shoulder, with all the false casualness he can muster.

Rin nods, and forces her hands off of the door. She brushes at her skirt uselessly, as though that was the reason she’d been dawdling.

“Mori-sensei.” She greets her teacher, bowing slightly. Her teacher nods in response, and Rin takes a seat next to Hatori, across from her teacher. They watch as her teacher opens a thin file with Rin’s given name marked on the front in tidy black ink. 

“You’ve missed a great deal of school, Isuzu, but there’s no reason for you to not be able to finish the year.” Her teacher says. “Beyond that, you will have to do additional studying if you want to do well on college entrance exams.”

Rin nods, already tired by the thought of it. 

“Do you want to go to college?” Mori asks, peering at Rin. She glances at Hatori, as though looking for additional guidance. 

“We’ve been looking at options, but haven’t made any decisions yet.” Hatori says. 

“What are you thinking of studying?” She asks, turning her attention back to Rin.

“Art.” Rin says. She wants this over with. It doesn’t matter what she wants to do, anyways. All things happen at the pleasure of Akito, and he had made it plenty clear that he does not want his Jyuunishi far. The likelyhood of Rin being able to go to college seems minimal at best. She’ll just be trapped in the walls of the compound until she dies, and then get buried in the special cemetery at the back of the Main House, reserved only for Jyuunishi. 

Still, it seems important to Hatori. And maybe she will get to go.

It just feels difficult to hold onto that piece of hope. 

Mori marks something down on the form in front of her. “Most women who graduate from this school go onto prestigious universities.” She tells Hatori. Rin is sure that the subtle bragging works on most parents, but Hatori seems unmoved.

“We just want Isuzu to be happy.” Hatori says.

Rin snorts, but when Hatori and Mori turn to look at her, she lifts her hand to disguise it as a cough. 

Mori looks down at the paperwork, and starts sorting through it. “Are you Isuzu’s father, Dr. Sohma?”

“I’m her guardian.” 

Mori nods. “You seemed a little too young. Are you able to sign paperwork as her parent?”

“I can.”

Mori slides the paper around and hands Hatori a pen. He glances over it, and then signs at the bottom before sliding it over to Rin. She doesn’t bother to read over it before signing directly underneath his name. 

“Your classwork has been getting better, Sohma-san, but don’t get complacent.” Mori says. “If your grades slip further, a good college will be out of the question.”

“Okay.” Rin says.

“There are other students who can help you if you need tutoring.” She says.

Rin stiffens at the thought. “I can do it on my own.”

“Are you sure?” Mori asks. “There are many girls in the class who have excellent grades.” 

“I don’t need a tutor.”

“Beyond understanding the material, it can help you to get your work done.”

“I’ve been doing my assignments, Mori-sensei.”

“Yes, more recently.” Mori nods. “But that has been an issue for you in the past.”

“She’ll be fine.” Hatori cuts in. “I can help her.”

“With all due respect, Dr. Sohma, we have a very rigorous curriculum.” Mori says. “Given the importance of your work, do you really think you’ll have the time?”

“My schedule isn’t nearly that busy. I can make time.”

Rin’s teacher seems unsatisfied, but she drops the issue. Rin sits there as she and Hatori exchange a few more papers, signing back and forth. 

Finally, Mori picks up a stack of pamphlets and offers them to Hatori. “Universities to consider.”

Hatori nods, but he doesn’t spare them a glance before sliding them into his jacket pocket. “Is that it, then?”

Mori nods. “Thank you for your time, Dr. Sohma.” 

Hatori nods in return and stands. Rin stands as well.

“Ah, Sohma-san…” Mori smiles, nodding at Rin. “May I enquire after your mother? We haven’t seen her in a while, and some of your former teachers were concerned. I was hoping we might see her today.”

That’s right.

Her mother had been involved with the school quite a bit. She’d been a PTA officer a few times. Rin's teachers had liked her. She has a blurry memory of being a small child, younger than Kisa even, and seeing her mother laughing and chatting with her teacher at the time.

Maybe they thought she’d died.

Mori smiles expectantly at her, waiting for an answer. 

Rin stares. She opens her mouth to answer, and then closes it. What could she even say? What answer is there to offer? She tries to take in a breath, and finds that she can barely breathe. 

She feels a sudden grip on her arm and flinches. Hatori squeezes lightly. She exhales and tries to take a slow breath, like he taught her. 

“Isuzu’s mother is fine.” He answers for her. “She’s been busy.”

“That’s good to hear. Please give her my regards.”

“I will.” Hatori says. Rin can’t tell if he’s lying. He and Mori exchange polite goodbyes. Rin manages a nod in her teachers direction.

“Come on.” Hatori murmurs. He releases her arm, and she follows him out the door, forcing her shoulders down in some approximation of calmness. 

The girls are still outside her classroom, and they quiet suddenly as the two of them step out the door, as Hatori closes it behind her. Hatori turns to her as though to say something, and Rin minutely shakes her head. This isn’t a discussion she wants to have in front of them. 

“Alright.” Hatori says, very quietly. He turns, and Rin stays in step beside him as they walk down the hallways. She carefully arranges her face into the same cool mask she wears every day. Behind them, she hears her classmates voices rise in volume again as they walk away, no doubt gossiping about Hatori, about who he is or how they know each other. 

“Where is your coat?” Hatori asks. 

“…I left it in the classroom.” Rin realizes. “Hatori…”

“You don’t need to go back.” Hatori sighs. “I’ll give you mine.” 

“Not here.”

“At the car, then.” 

Rin nods. She’s learned to pick her battles, and fighting Hatori on whether or not to wear a coat has never ended in her winning. When they finally get to the front doors, Rin takes in a deep breath of the cold weather. It’s refreshing after the stuffy, overheated classroom. Hatori’s car has rarely been a haven for her, but this time she’s grateful for the familiarity of it, for the stink of cigarettes clinging to the interior.

Hatori shrugs off his jacket and wordlessly helps her into it. It’s one of his lighter jackets, but it still dwarfs her. She tucks it around herself and then slides into the passenger seat. She bundles into the seat, and lets her head fall against the window as Hatori starts the car.

“Seatbelt.”

Rin wordlessly straps herself in, and then resumes gazing out the window.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Hatori doesn’t start the car. “Are you hungry?” He asks.

“What?” Rin looks over at him.

“Are you hungry.” He repeats. “We can go out for food.” 

“I’m fine.” Rin says. 

Hatori clears his throat. “We could go to a museum, if you’d like.”

“A…” Rin stares. 

Hatori keeps his gaze firmly pinned in front of him, not looking over at her. “I’m not busy for the rest of the day.” He says, by way of explanation. 

“And you want to go to a museum?” She asks.

“If you’d like.” He says again, finally looking over at Rin. “Is there anything you want to do? Momiji likes the movies, but that doesn’t seem like something you’d want.” He pauses. “Unless that’s something you want.”

Rin realizes, suddenly, that he’s trying to make her feel better.

“A museum is fine.” Rin says. 

“Okay.” Hatori says. He starts the car. “There’s a few art museums that I don’t think you’ve been to yet…”

He seems to have a good enough grasp on the ones in the area that it occurs to Rin that he’s done some research on this. She shrugs when he offers her the options, and so he ends up settling on the one closest. It’s small and quiet, and they’re able to walk the halls in near-silence.

Hatori doesn’t rush her through looking at any of the sculptures, and when she lingers at the watercolors he wanders off, letting her take her time to admire the lines and the vividness of the colors. 

When Hatori reappears, it’s to quietly tell her that the museum is closing soon.

“But we can come back.” He says. “Just tell me when you want to.”

“Okay.” Rin says.

Hatori nods, and Rin understands that he’s dead serious, that he considers it a promise.

The next time they go her back is scarred, and she’s a bit more jumpy, and Hatori still waits patiently while she looks at art until the museum docent tells them it’s time to leave. 

**Author's Note:**

> title from garden song by phoebe bridgers. I've gotten back into her music lately, i used to cry to 'stranger in the alps' but now i cry to 'punisher'.  
> I know i haven't been producing much lately. work is so exhausting, life continues to drain whatever bits of something i have! i feel like i pour everything in my heart into my job, and then when I get home there's nothing left. 
> 
> I post bits & pieces & prompts at valkyriered.tumblr.com


End file.
